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COVID‐19 field instruction: Bringing the forests of British Columbia to students 8,000 km away

ABSTRACT: Abstract Field instruction is a crucial component of natural sciences education. The COVID‐19 pandemic has shifted many university courses to an online format, significantly impacting field instruction. FRST 350, Foundational Field School, is an 8‐day University of British Columbia Forestry field course taught to incoming transfer students from partner universities in China. In August 2020, I taught this course online to students studying remotely. In re‐developing the course, I spent 9 days in the field filming high definition (HD) video, 360° video, and 360° photography to best recreate the course in a short time‐frame. A 360° video records omnidirectionally, allowing viewers to “look around” in all directions, resulting in a highly immersive experience. Students expressed favorable opinions of the course, especially traditional HD and 360° video. Students generally preferred HD videos over 360°, though this was due mostly to the high bandwidth needed for 360° video and the fact that core course content was primarily conveyed as HD videos (in recognition of bandwidth challenges), with supplementary 360° videos. Students favorably noted the interactivity and immersive feel of 360° videos and photographs. This technology is financially and logistically feasible for use in a natural sciences course. Instructors engaged in online field instruction should weigh the strengths and weaknesses of various technologies, including 360° video, when determining how to best meet their learning objectives.

SUBMITTER: Culbert P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7995167 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Forests are being clearcut over extensive areas of western North America, but plant community response to harvesting and slashburning under varying climatic conditions in central British Columbia, Canada is still largely unknown. Evaluation of resilience is hampered by the short history of logging, lack of long-term experiments and methodological limitations. To test the effect of clearcut logging, prescribed burning and reforestation on forest resilience, we recorded vascular plant cover repeatedly after treatment between 1981 and 2008 in 16 permanent research installations in three biogeoclimatic zones: Engelmann Spruce-Subalpine Fir, Interior Cedar-Hemlock and Sub-Boreal Spruce. We created a plant-trait dataset for the 181 recorded species to define plant functional types representing groups of plants that behave in similar ways and/or produce similar ecological outcomes. These plant functional types, along with taxonomic analysis of diagnostic and indicator species, were then used to evaluate plant community response to disturbance. Twenty years post-treatment, species diversity increased in all zones and plant abundance was greatest in the Interior Cedar-Hemlock. Cover of understory plant functional types associated with mature conifer forests increased in all zones, constituting a significant proportion (> 40%) of the vegetation community by year 20. Response patterns varied by zone and with time. Understory species diagnostic of mature forests were present in all zones by year 20, but we identified indicator species sensitive to slashburning or requiring more time for recovery, including white-flowered rhododendron (Rhododendron albiflorum) and devil's club (Oplopanax horridus). Overall, loss of compositional or functional diversity following harvest and site remediation was not detected, suggesting that montane and subalpine forests in British Columbia are resilient to this treatment. However, because these forests can be slow to recover from disturbance, the post-disturbance assessment window of this study may not have been long enough to detect diminishment of ecosystem resilience.

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COVID‐19 field instruction: Bringing the forests of British Columbia to students 8,000 km away

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